'Voluntary departure' for Gazans slammed

Israel's decision to set up an agency to oversee the so-called voluntary departure of Palestinians from Gaza and the approval of 13 settlement outposts in the West Bank have been condemned for defying international laws and undermining cease-fire restoration efforts.

Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the Gulf Cooperation Council, and Austria and Germany were among those who condemned the move, saying the aim was to displace Palestinians and legitimize what were called colonial settlements.

Israel's Defense Ministry said on Sunday that the country's Security Cabinet had approved the establishment of a new directorate to coordinate the "voluntary relocation" of Palestinians from Gaza to third countries.

The directorate, which will operate under the Defense Ministry, will "prepare for and enable safe and controlled passage of Gaza residents for their voluntary departure to third countries", The Times of Israel reported.

Egypt said the move lacked any legitimate basis, and that the departures were happening under policies that prevent humanitarian aid and use starvation as a weapon.

This constitutes forced displacement, a violation under international law and international humanitarian law, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said.

Meanwhile, Israel's President Isaac Herzog said on Tuesday he was shocked that the issue of hostages being held in Gaza was no longer a top priority in the country, days after criticizing the government's war policy.

"I am quite shocked how suddenly the issue of the hostages is no longer at the top of the priority list and at the top of the news," Herzog said in a video issued by his office, adding it was important to keep working toward "bringing the hostages home, down to the last one".

In the occupied West Bank, Israel's Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said the 13 Jewish settlements will ultimately be recognized as independent and would "continue to lead a revolution of normalization and regulation in the settlements instead of hiding and apologizing".

It was another important step on the path to "actual sovereignty in Judea and Samaria", Israel's term for the West Bank, he said.

Israeli airstrikes have continued across the Gaza Strip, killing at least 23 Palestinians on Tuesday, local health officials said.

Journalists killed

After Israel attacked a hospital causing deaths, including that of a teenager, on Sunday it continued its operations, and at least two journalists were added to the death toll on Monday. Hussam Shabat, a journalist working with Al Jazeera, and Mohammed Mansour, a correspondent of the Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun, were among those reported dead.

The United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said it took the "difficult decision" to reduce its aid work in Gaza after deadly Israeli airstrikes resumed, but "the UN is not leaving" the enclave, he said.

On Monday the Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa, in a meeting with Sweden's Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard in Ramallah, called for more international pressure to halt Israel's military operations in Gaza.

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation also called on the world, and in particular the UN Security Council, to fulfill its responsibilities in confronting what it called Israeli crimes.

Gokhan Ereli, Gulf studies coordinator at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies in Turkiye, told China Daily that Israel appeared to be laying the groundwork for long-term demographic restructuring with its so-called voluntary departure of Palestinians from Gaza.

"Although presented as voluntary, such methods risk normalizing and speeding up forced migration, particularly in situations when daily life is rendered unlivable owing to ongoing assaults and blockade."

If this policy continues, Gaza's population is likely to shrink significantly, especially if third-party states agree to accept displaced people, perhaps under diplomatic or economic pressure, he said.

"This might eventually be portrayed politically as a question of personal choice, undermining Palestinian claims to the right of return and reshaping the historical narrative of displacement.

"The repercussions are significant. Such a shift weakens the feasibility of a two-state solution by reducing the demographic and territorial coherence essential for a sustainable Palestinian state.

"Furthermore, it risks shifting the Israeli-Palestinian conflict's primary problem from occupation to irreversible population transfer, creating severe international law concerns."

Xinhua and Agencies contributed to this story.